Blog Tour/Review: How Much Do You Love Me? by Paul Mark Tag

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How Much Do You Love Me?, by Paul Mark Tag
2014, 258p, Historical Fiction
My Rating=5 Stars
Source: Received copy from publisher for an honest review



Lovers James and Keiko marry quickly before James goes to World War II and Keiko to an internment camp. Sixty years later their daughter Kazuko, born in the camps, uncovers a secret that could overwhelm the family. Discover the very definition of human love and self-sacrifice in this saga of war, mystery, and romance.

This story is set in WWII and shifts back and forth between 1941-42 and 2000. In 1941, James and Keiko are in love and want to get married. He's white and she's Japanese and they're not sure how their families will handle the news. Then, Pearl Harbor is bombed and they move their plans up since they know war is coming and James is planning to enlist. Their families take the news fairly well and James isn't too worried about leaving until the government decides to send all the Japanese-Americans to internment camps.

In the year 2000, Keiko has had a stroke and is in the hospital. Her daughter, Kazuko and her son Patrick are worried about her. They get a visitor, a man by the name of Takeo Sato who knew her mother's family at the Japanese internment camps. As Kazuko starts talking to him, he reveals stories that her family has never told her and she starts to sense that her mother is keeping a secret from her. She turns to her Aunt Shizuka for answers, but she's not talking. Their father, James, now has Alzheimer's so they can't turn to him, either.

I loved the history, the characters and the mystery in this book! I haven't read a lot of books about the Japanese internment camps and I feel like I have a better understanding of why this isn't really talked about. Keiko's family showed a lot of strength and courage through a difficult time for all of them. As Keiko's daughter, Kazuko, started looking for the family secret, I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what it could be. I figured it out a little bit before the reveal, and it is stunning. And then after that, there was another reveal that I didn't see coming which stunned me even more. It made the story that much better to me, too. 

I loved the flashbacks and getting bits and pieces of the story here and there. I loved Keiko's relationship with James, her in-laws and her immediate family. Her daughter Kazuko was a loving daughter and sister and determined to find answers to her questions. She really had to dig deep and I enjoyed going on her journey with her. This is a book that I am still thinking about and it's definitely worth reading!!

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Paul Mark Tag graduated with multiple degrees in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University and worked for the Naval Research Laboratory as a research scientist for over thirty years before retiring to write fiction. For years prior to retirement, and the following year exclusively, he honed his skills writing short stories. These have been published in StoryBytes, Potpourri, Green’s Magazine, and The Storyteller, as well as The Errant Ricochet: Max Raeburn’s Legacy.In 2005, he self-published his first thriller, Category 5,which took advantage of his knowledge of meteorology and weather modification, followed by Prophecy and White Thaw: The Helheim Conspiracy. With his historical novel How Much Do You Love Me? he has switched genres. He lives with his wife, Becky, in Monterey, California.